Groundbreaking improv comic Jonathan Winters dies LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jonathan Winters, the cherub-faced comedian whose breakneck improvisations and misfit characters inspired the likes of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey, has died. He was 87. The Ohio native died Thursday evening at his Montecito, Calif., home of natural causes, said Joe Petro III, a longtime friend. He was surrounded by family and friends. Winters was a pioneer of improvisational standup comedy, with an exceptional gift for mim...

Discharge recommended for Navy officer in Conn. GROTON, Conn. (AP) — A former submarine commander who faked his death to end an extramarital affair should be honorably discharged from the Navy, a panel of officers recommended Friday after a daylong hearing in which the officer said he accepted “full and total accountability” for his behavior. Cmdr. Michael P. Ward II, a married 43-year-old, sent his mistress in Virginia an email in July posing as a fictitious co-worker named Bob and saying ...

FDA finds safety issues at specialty pharmacies WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration says it has uncovered potential safety problems at 30 specialty pharmacies that were inspected in the wake of a recent outbreak of meningitis caused by contaminated drugs. The agency said its inspectors targeted 31 compounding pharmacies that produce sterile drugs, which must be prepared under highly sanitary conditions. The FDA said Thursday it issued inspection reports to all but one of the ...

Driver in Texas bus wreck also drove in ’98 crash DALLAS (AP) — The driver of a bus that swerved off a North Texas highway, leaving two passengers dead and dozens injured, was at the wheel in another fatal accident 15 years ago, but an official Friday downplayed the importance of the earlier accident to the pending investigation. The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed that Loyd Rieve, 65, was driving the tour bus Thursday that veered across the highway in Irving and into the center m...

US retail sales fall 0.4 percent in March WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales at U.S. retailers fell in March from February, indicating that higher taxes and weak hiring likely made some consumers more cautious about spending. Retail sales declined a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent last month, the Commerce Department said Friday. That followed a 1 percent gain in February and a 0.1 percent decline in January. Both February and January figures were revised lower. Consumers cut back across a wide r...

Coding boot camps promise to launch tech careers SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Looking for a career change, Ken Shimizu decided he wanted to be a software developer, but he didn’t want to go back to college to study computer science. Instead, he quit his job and spent his savings to enroll at Dev Bootcamp, a new San Francisco school that teaches students how to write software in nine weeks. The $11,000 gamble paid off: A week after he finished the program last summer, he landed an engineering job tha...

GOP senator would broaden gun checks, no records WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative senator is proposing to greatly broaden the background check system for firearms purchasers but require no records of the transactions as the Senate braced for votes on amendments to gun control legislation next week. The plan by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., was one of several proposals Republicans were discussing in preparation for debate. In response to December’s elementary school attack in Newtown, Conn., whic...

Spring storm socks Midwest, Deep SouthJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A powerful spring storm unleashed tornadoes and winds strong enough to peel the roofs from homA powerful spring storm unleashed tornadoes and winds strong enough to peel the roofs from homes in the Deep South and heaped snow and ice on the Midwest, killing three people and leaving thousands without power. Emergency officials said one person was killed by a tornado in Mississippi. In Missouri, a utility worker repairing po...

Gun measures put moderate Senate Dems in bind WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s push for tougher gun measures and expanded background checks has placed several moderate Senate Democrats facing re-election next year in a bind, forcing them to take sides on a deeply personal issue for rural voters. The choice: Either they stick with Obama and gun control advocates — and give an opening to campaign challengers and the National Rifle Association to assail them — or they stand with co...

Greenhouse gases make high temps hotter in China WASHINGTON (AP) — China, the world’s largest producer of carbon dioxide, is directly feeling the man-made heat of global warming, scientists conclude in the first study to link the burning of fossil fuels to one country’s rise in its daily temperature spikes. China emits more of the greenhouse gas than the next two biggest carbon polluters — the U.S. and India — combined. And its emissions keep soaring by about 10 percent per year. While other...

Immigration bill could exclude many WASHINGTON (AP) — A promised path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally may leave out hundreds of thousands of them. Bipartisan Senate legislation would make legalization and ultimately citizenship available only to those who arrived in the U.S. before Dec. 31, 2011, according to a Senate aide with knowledge of the proposals. Anyone who came after that date would be subject to deportation. The bill, expected to be ...

Police: hostage-taker gave no signs of compromise SUWANEE, Ga. (AP) — As a gunman held four firefighters hostage in his Georgia home, police tried to buy time and create a rapport by meeting his initial demands. But when his requests became unreasonable and negotiations seemed to go nowhere, police said, officers stormed the house and killed him after he fired on them. Authorities on Thursday provided new details on Wednesday’s hostage-taking north of Atlanta, including how the suspect — 55-y...

Obama earned less in 2012, pays $112k in taxes WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama made less in 2012 than in any other year since taking office, with about 40 percent of the nearly $609,000 in income that he and first lady Michelle Obama reported coming from book sales. Obama, who renewed his call for higher taxes on the wealthy in the budget he released Wednesday, paid $112,214 in taxes last year, putting his effective federal tax rate at 18.4 percent. The Obamas donated almost one-q...

US stresses limits of NKorea’s nuclear firepower WASHINGTON (AP) — On the brink of an expected North Korean missile test, U.S. officials focused on the limits of Pyongyang’s nuclear firepower Friday, trying to shift attention from the disclosure that the North Koreans might be able to launch a nuclear strike. They insisted that while the unpredictable government might have rudimentary nuclear capabilities, it has not proved it has a weapon that could reach the United States. A senior defense...

Montana pet owner to feds: The dog ate my money HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man whose 12-year-old golden retriever ate five $100 bills hopes to be reimbursed by the federal government. Wayne Klinkel told the Independent Record his dog Sundance ate the bills while he and his wife were on a road trip to visit their daughter. Klinkel said he carefully picked through the dog’s droppings, and his daughter recovered more when snow melted. He said he washed the remnants of the bills and taped t...

3 teens arrested for assault after girl’s suicide SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Eight days after allegedly being sexually battered while passed out at a party, and then humiliated by online photos of the assault, 15-year-old Audrie Pott posted on Facebook that her life was ruined, “worst day ever,” and hanged herself. For the next eight months, her family struggled to figure out what happened to their soccer loving, artistic, horse crazy daughter, whose gentle smile, long dark hair and shining eyes...

3 dead in storm packing ice, snow, tornadoes SHUQUALAK, Miss. (AP) — A strong spring storm that socked the Midwest with ice and heavy, wet snow made its way east, raking the South with tornadoes Thursday, with three deaths blamed on the rough weather and thousands of people without power. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn said Thursday one person died and several people were injured after a reported tornado struck Kemper County in the far eastern part of the st...

Gun control bill clears its first hurdle in Senate WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress’ most serious gun-control effort in years cleared its first hurdle Thursday as the Senate pushed past conservatives’ attempted blockade under the teary gaze of families of victims of December’s Connecticut school shootings. The bipartisan 68-31 vote rebuffed an effort to keep debate from even starting, giving an early victory — and perhaps political momentum — to President Barack Obama and his gun control allies. Fou...

Implanted ’bracelet’ helps treat chronic heartburn A tiny magnetic bracelet implanted at the base of the throat is greatly improving life for some people with chronic heartburn who need more help than medicine can give them. It’s a novel way to treat severe acid reflux, which plagues millions of Americans and can raise their risk for more serious health problems. It happens when a weak muscle doesn’t close after swallowing as it should. That lets stomach juices splash back into the throat. Dru...

Hagel: Job not to cut heart out of Pentagon WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel rejected the suggestion that President Barack Obama tapped him to “cut the heart out of the Pentagon,” pointedly reminding lawmakers Thursday that Congress approved the smaller, deficit-driven military budgets long before he took the job. Faced with a $487 billion budget cut over a decade, Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon had no choice in...